Thursday, April 12, 2018

A Winter in the Baja




A sudden drift of

fish startles up from the sea,

their silver backs flash. 




Nightfall. The Little

Dipper pours starlight over

darkened mountain tops.




Walking a desert

track we turn and stumble on

piles of pipefish bones.



Break a branch of the

torote tree—sharp scent of

bitter orange lingers.





Palo Adan, grey

branch, half-moon: one scarlet bud

streaks the evening sky.




A Pacific wind

freshens. Hungry clouds nibble

The fattening moon.




Empty shells of a

conch graveyard glisten: so much

broken crockery.




Almost spring but the

sharp scent of beach fires burning

intimates autumn.




Walking on the beach

we startle a cricket; it

leaps into the sea.




A buzzard sits on

an abandoned power pole,

lines cut and dangling.





A beached sea lion

skull slowly submerges: sand

fills the eye sockets.
                                    

 
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First published in January 2018 in "Fresh Voices," an online publication of the Canadian League of Poets:
http://poets.ca/2018/01/19/fresh-voices-karin-cope-nan-williamson-barbara-black/

All photos were taken during the course of shore walks while sailing in the Sea of Cortez in 2016, 2017 and 2018.

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